Agram Trial

The Agram Trial or Zagreb Trial (known as the "High treason trial" in Serbo-Croatian, veleizdajnički proces) was the 1909 show trial of 53 ethnic Serbs in Zagreb, Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary) for high treason. The accused were members of the Serb Independent Party (SSS), who were accused of conspiracy to overthrow the state and place Croatia-Slavonia under Serbian rule. The trial attracted huge attention and criticism from all over Europe. It was highly politicized and the government hoped to use the trial to discredit the Croat-Serb Coalition that won majority in the 1908 Croatian parliamentary election, and to justify the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the trial and after it, it became clear that the accusations were false and that the evidence against the accused was falsified. Nevertheless, 31 of the accused Serbs were convinced and sentenced to prison terms. The scandal became a public disaster for the government of Austria-Hungary. All of the accused appealed their convictions, and the appellate court ordered a re-trial. After that, in 1910, emperor Franz Joseph I pardoned all of the accused.